How can You Make Science Appear Relevant to Students?

Many students lose their interest in science when they get into higher classes, especially when they are introduced to the complex nature of this subject. This mainly happens due to the abstract nature of complex topics and concepts that come up in higher classes. So it’s necessary to make the subject appear more relevant to students, more tactile so that students find more meaning in the subject. We’ll look into a few ways through which it can be done.

Make them aware of the big picture

By making students aware of the bigger picture behind their lessons, we can make the subject appear more relevant to students. The main problem that we face is that we dive straight into a specific topic during classes; we delve deeper into concepts, the related numerical without even getting into the reasons for which the students have to learn the topic in the first place. Thus, they naturally see no meaning in the lesson.

We have personally seen many incidents where students ask questions like “Why should we study this?” A simple answer like “It’s good for you” is not enough. You have to make them aware of the bigger picture.

Let’s take a simple example by which you can implement this tactic in action. If you are starting a lesson on a topic, say “The atom”, do not start the lesson by delving directly into the topic. Start with simple questions like “What are we made of?” or “What’s the smallest thing known to mankind?” Then you can slowly move on to the main topic. By doing that, you can make the lesson more interesting and can also make students aware of the bigger picture behind the lessons.

Connecting with daily life

If you can connect lessons with that of a daily life, the lessons will be more gratifying from the student’s point of view. Students will automatically find more meaning in lessons and will not study for the sake of it. There are several ways through which you can make students aware of the application of science in daily life. They’ll just have to keep your eyes open. If you want to know about the ways through which you can develop a math interest in students from daily life activities, you can refer to this article.

Background story

Sometimes a science lesson involving a background story can do wonders. Say, for example, the day’s lesson is based on “Newton’s laws of motion.” A simple background story on the scientist himself can make the lesson pretty interesting.

Interactive lessons

Interactive lessons can really make the subject appear more relevant to students. Collaborations in classes involving debates and discussions can make lessons appear more gratifying. Thus students feel that they are more involved in the lessons and hence, they see more sense in the subject.

Future requirements

This is another great way to make science relevant to students. You’ll have to make students see the importance that a specific science subject can have in shaping a career in future.

Always remember that students gain more interest in a subject if they find the subject interesting. So if you can do something exceptional to make a lesson interesting, do not hesitate to imply that. We’ll sign off for now then. Hope you had a good read. Ciao!

Sudipto Das

Sudipto writes technical and educational content periodically for wizert.com and backs it up with extensive research and relevant examples. He's an avid reader and a tech enthusiast at the same time with a little bit of “Arsenal Football Club” thrown in as well. He's got a B.Tech in Electronics and Instrumentation.
Follow him on twitter @SudiptoDas1993